Many of the homes dominating the American landscape no longer provide adequate space to meet the needs and desires of the American family. One to three bedroom homes, homes lacking a family room or den, and homes with only single car garages are insufficient for many families' needs. Further, home offices have become increasingly popular and have placed additional demands on the space available in many existing homes. While moving to a larger home may be an option for some families, others cannot afford the expense and inconvenience of moving. Existing relationships with community schools and activities, local houses of worship and other conveniences, and nearby friends and family may also be a deterrent to moving. Further, as cities and suburbs expand, and the available spaces for new development decrease, something will need to be done about the functionally obsolete, though otherwise desirable, existing homes.
Unfortunately, the prospect of adding a housing addition can be daunting. Hiring an architect to design a compatible addition can be expensive and time consuming. A new design may take 2-3 months to prepare and customization of the design to the homeowner's needs may require considerable time and effort from the homeowner. After preparation, review of the plans for the appropriate building permits may take 6-10 weeks.
Finding an available contractor and getting financing for both the design and building stages may require additional time and effort. Engaging a contractor to build the addition adds additional expenses and even the hardiest do-it-yourselfer generally lacks the tools and expertise to construct an entire addition from the ground up. Homeowners may have difficulty finding a contractor they can trust and may fear being overcharged or provided with sub-standard workmanship and materials. Reliable and inexpensive architects and contractors may be difficult to find.
Homeowners may also be discouraged by the time and mess associated with the construction of a housing addition. Construction of an addition, even after permits are in place, typically takes 2-3 months and maybe made longer by weather delays, inspection delays, building mistakes, lack of contractor and sub-contractor availability, and other delays. Protracted construction on an existing property can wreak havoc with family routines, strain relationships with neighbors, and render the general aesthetics and utility of the existing property undesirable for the duration of the construction. There is a need for a fast and inexpensive way to design and construct a house addition.
Kit construction, the use of a pre-fabricated kit to construct a building, has been around for many years. Perhaps the most common forms of kit construction are log home kits and the kits used by some contractors to construct a large number of similar tract homes. In many kits, wall frames and trusses are pre-fabricated at a factory and delivered to the building site. The wall frames may include window and door frames, and exterior wall frames may have plywood or similar coverings pre-installed on their exteriors. At the building site, the frames and trusses are positioned using a building crane and attached using pneumatic nail guns or similar devices. Further framing may be required on-site. Plywood exteriors may be added to the walls and roof and the roof may be covered, for example, by shingles or other roofing materials. The various house systems, such as plumbing, electrical, and HVAC may be installed. Windows and doors may be installed. Drywall may be added on the interior of walls and ceilings and various stages of finishing work, such as painting and installing siding, flooring, cabinetry, fixtures, molding, and other items, may be completed.
Such building kits may require special equipment, such as building cranes, to assemble. They may require special expertise for installing house systems and finishing. They may be challenging to customize or redesign due to the use of large, building specific, pre-fabricated sections. They may require considerable on-site labor to assemble and complete and on-site completion may provide considerable opportunity for human error, failed inspections, and other delays. Such building kits may be incompatible with existing buildings, lot sizes, and lot shapes.
These and other drawbacks of prior art systems are overcome by the various embodiments of the invention.